More than just delicious burgers: How In-N-Out tops Google, Facebook

San Jose. Calif. – Workplaces such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Google are known for going out of their way to provide employees with high salaries, plenty of time off and perks ranging from gourmet lunchrooms to on-site gyms. It’s all part of those companies’ efforts to keep their staffs happy and working up to, and beyond, their full potential.

Still, none of those places can offer an In-N-Out Burger Double-Double as a free employee meal. And that could be why In-N-Out ranks above those three tech titans on Glassdoor’s list of best places to work for 2019.

Glassdoor, the Mill Valley, Calif.-based jobs and recruiting site known for posting anonymous reviews by employees of their companies and managers, has come out with its list of the best places to work in the United States for 2019. Among the top 100 places, 23 are Bay Area companies — and four of them are in the top 10 for the upcoming year.

San Jose-based Zoom Video Communications is the top-ranked local place to work, coming in at No. 2 on the Glassdoor list. Zoom uses cloud-based technologies to provide remote video conference, chat and online meeting services. The only company to top Zoom on the list is consulting giant Bain & Co., from Boston.

LinkedIn came in sixth place, followed immediately by Facebook and Google. Facebook had ranked No. 1 for 2018.

Although it isn’t based in the Bay Area, No. 3 on the Glassdoor chart is fast food happy place In-N-Out Burger.

“Job seekers are in the driver’s seat when it comes to deciding where to work, and they want to know the inner workings of a company before accepting a new job,” said Andrew Chamberlain, chief economist for Glassdoor. “For employers, we know that a satisfied and engaged workforce helps drive financial performance.”

The Glassdoor results were tabulated from submissions from employees representing the more than 830,000 employers currently reviewed on the site. Employees are asked to give their opinions about their overall workplace, how satisfied they are with their jobs, details about matters such as salaries, benefits, workplace culture and values, rate their company’s chief executive and say whether they would recommend their company to prospective job seekers.

With its 23 entries on the list, up from 18 in 2018, the Bay Area had the largest number of companies of any U.S. geographical region in the top 100.

The state's technology system has been plagued by high-profile failures, and finding someone willing to head the department has proven challenging. "It keeps me up at night," Walz said in an interview.